How TikTok took off in the US during a pandemic

NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - It has been well over two years since TikTok arrived in the United States in August 2018.

The app had everything: social commentary, comedy, crafting, memes, challenges, make-up tutorials and, of course, dances.

Even those who were not sold on it could not avoid the videos, which proliferated across platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

By April last year, TikTok had been downloaded more than two billion times; in the autumn, it had an estimated 850 million monthly active users.

Despite its growth in size and scope, the uninitiated still largely view the app as a tool for very young people.

While TikTok has transformed dance culture online, the platform has more broadly become a rich social and entertainment network. And last year, there was hardly a corner of society it did not touch.

TikTok's most obvious impact can be seen in the entertainment world.

"More than any other social network since MySpace, it feels like a new experience, the emergence of a different kind of technology and a different mode of consuming media," journalist Kyle Chayka wrote in November.

Primarily responsible for the uniqueness of the TikTok viewing experience is the For You page, an algorithmically programmed feed that serves users the content they are likely to find engaging.

Users need not follow or be followed by anyone to see the videos they want to see, or to have their own videos be seen by their intended audience, which has afforded many people a rapid rise to fame.

In the last year alone, top users like Charli and Dixie D'Amelio, and Addison Easterling amassed tens of millions of followers and became household names. The D'Amelios even landed a Hulu show.

The app has also reinvigorated the music industry and become a place to discover talent, market songs, collaboratively produce new music and mash-up tracks.

TikTok has had an undeniable effect on what people wear and buy. Users appeared in campaigns for Louis Vuitton and Prada, signed with agencies like IMG Models and shaped trends (think cottagecore and the strawberry dress).

Mass-market brands have also aligned with influencers. While physical stores were closed in the early months of the pandemic, new brands and shops popped up on TikTok. Major retailers such as Sephora, Dunkin' Donuts and GameStop even encouraged their staff to become TikTok influencers.

Service workers were some of the first people to embrace TikTok in 2018. Last year, the public got a whole new view of these workers' lives.

Warehouse workers, fast-food employees and baristas turned to TikTok to give others a glimpse of their lives, sometimes finding unintentional fame.

Many of their industries were hit hard by the pandemic and leveraged TikTok to promote fund-raising and relief efforts.

As the coronavirus continued to spread, TikTok played a key public health role.

Nurses, doctors and other front-line health workers used TikTok to explain the importance of mask-wearing and break down misinformation on vaccines.

As the Black Lives Matter movement gained support across the US last summer, TikTok became a space where young activists could talk about police brutality and criminal justice reform, as well as the platform's own relationship to black creators.

Political activism has been fruitful on the app. In June, TikTok users organised a campaign to inflate attendance expectations for US President Donald Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Photographs showed a sparse crowd, with many empty seats.

After many US schools moved learning online last year, students and teachers turned to TikTok to commiserate about the struggles of education.

Students hosted live-streamed study sessions in which they helped each other with homework, and used TikTok to share study tips and online learning hacks with their peers.

The app fostered friendships and romances across distances. It also helped parents commiserate over the challenges of caring for children and navigating adulthood.

One of the earliest trends on TikTok last year was the Renegade, a dance choreographed by Jalaiah Harmon, 15, to the song Lottery by Atlanta rapper K-Camp.

The dance, popularised primarily by white influencers, broke open a dialogue about black creators and giving credit where it is due.

Viral food culture also migrated from Instagram to TikTok. The platform popularised pancake cereal, whipped coffee and carrot bacon.

It also helped up-and-comers, such as 18-year-old culinary darling Eitan Bernath, get discovered and taught millions stuck at home during quarantine how to cook.